Frances Lee Maier Smoot.
To sum up 91 years of life is to speak of the lasting impact and memories of the lives she influenced - her legacy.
In her 33 years as a 3rd grade teacher at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School – no less than 750 lives were directly affected by her attention to details, encouraging lessons for life and instilling self discipline to all who spent time in her classroom. Cultivating a desire for reading is unquestionably the main focus of her efforts.
Kim shares that Mother believed each of her children wouldsucceed and Kim knows to her core that Mother was proud of her three children.
Scott recalls advice offered by Mother early in his teaching career – “she told me that every child has to find something they are good at doing. Whatever it is, she said, you find out what it is and build their confidence on that. This advice guided me through 40 years of teaching.”
Alice shares lasting memories of her Mother-in-Law:
- dress shopping for our rehearsal dinner and how the perfect dress was made to fit Alice’s little runner’s body to perfection by my Mother’s seamstress.
- [encouraging] Alice to complete her undergraduate degree which Alice earned in December 2019.
- and [demonstrating] her love to Raymond and Mary Alice when visiting their grandparents.
Raymond’s lasting memory of his grandmother is bedtime stories during overnight visits:
“Grandmother would take one of her well loved books that was taped up and almost falling apart at the seams and read to us. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle was a story about a woman who taught children to behave with crazy methods. I still remember a few of the stories – the boy who wouldn’t clean up his room, the one who ate slowly, the girl who’s parrot repeated to the girl every rude comment the girl said to others. Grandmother had the best voices and kept our attention effortlessly. SHE is the reason for my own avid interest in reading.”
Grandmother’s impact on Mary Alice:
I remember a woman who lived her life with a beautiful mix of love, strength, and grace:
- She was a teacher through and through, not only to her students but to me and my brother whenever we visited.
- Whenever things didn’t go our way or I complained, she’d simply say, “tough apples.” And it was her way of reminding us to be strong, to move forward, and to handle life with grit and grace. She carried herself with pride, valued a beautiful home, nice clothes, and proper presentation and she lived that every day.
- My grandmother showed me how to live with grace, curiosity, resilience, and love. I will always carry her with me, and I am forever grateful for the strength she instilled, the love she gave, and the beautiful legacy she leaves behind.
Mother’s impact on her youngest child, me? As Scott shared, she found sports were the only action I was good at and she worked to build my confidence through that activity. A lasting memory is every time I passed by her during a race, I would hear Run faster Todd, run faster.
I am hopeful that each person influenced by Frances Smoot will continue to share what you experienced through her with others. Her passing leaves a vast hole and each of us has a responsibility to fill in where she left off. If what she did was easy to accomplish, then there would not be a void. As Mary Alice expressed, what set Mother/Grandmother/Frances Smoot different from others is she did it all with grace. Unsure about you, everyone who has experience with me will unequivocally state that I do not possess that characteristic specifically. I can deliver the same words, but it was never with the effortless grace as my Mother did.
I conclude with a request to act: Do what you can with whomever you can – contribute to continuing to pass along the legacy of Frances M. Smoot.
- All the stories I've posted to this blog about Mom since her diagnosis are linked on one-page overview at Dementia Diary. It may be of help to others shepherding a loved one through the same valleys.
- Articles about Mom in the context of generations of my family are linked to a page I call Family Corner.
- Todd's letter to our Aunt Blanche was read as the eulogy at our uncle's burial back in 2005. See Remembering Jack C. Maier.
No comments:
Post a Comment